2nd Mar 2026 18:12
(Alliance News) - Zurich Insurance Group AG on Monday said it will partly fund its GBP8.1 billion acquisition of Beazley PLC via a private placement, with the remainder to be financed with existing cash and new debt facilities.
The Swiss insurer said the placement will deliver gross proceeds of CHF3.9 billion, about GBP3.7 billion or USD5.0 billion.
The placement will be conducted by way of an accelerated bookbuild which began immediately after Zurich's announcement on Monday evening. The bookbuild process is expected to conclude prior to market open on March 3.
The placement will be offered to professional investors in Switzerland and certain qualified investors outside Switzerland.
The new shares will correspond to about 4.6% of Zurich's share capital and be issued from the insurer's existing capital band.
The shares will rank pari passu with existing shares and be entitled to the dividend of CHF30 for 2025.
Additionally, Zurich has agreed to a lock-up period under which no new shares may be issued for 90 days after March 3.
Earlier on Monday, Zurich said it would acquire Beazley at 1,310 pence in cash per share. The deal values Beazley at GBP8.1 billion. Including a 25 pence dividend, shareholders in the insurer stand to receive GBP8.2 billion.
The offer price is a 60% premium to Beazley's share price of 820 pence on January 16, the day before Zurich publicly announced its interest in a takeover.
"The transaction represents a strong step in accelerating Zurich's strategy to create the global leader in specialty insurance. It builds on the investments Zurich has already made in developing its market leading specialty franchise, which currently writes USD9 billion of specialty gross written premiums as at December 31, 2025," Zurich said.
Beazley last month said it would have been minded to accept a Zurich bid of 1,310p per share. In January, Beazley rebuffed a takeover approach from Zurich. That approach was at 1,280p per share, GBP7.67 billion in total. This followed a GBP7.37 billion proposal, 1,230p per share, made by Zurich on January 4, which Beazley also spurned. Also in January, Beazley disclosed that in June, it had rejected a higher 1,315p per share tilt from Zurich, worth GBP8.4 billion, the last of three proposals made at the time.
Beazley shares closed down 1.3% at 1,250.00 pence each in London on Monday, giving it a GBP7.49 billion market capitalisation.
Zurich Insurance shares closed down 1.0% at CHF575.00 in Zurich. It has a CHF83.60 billion, around GBP80.06 billion, market capitalisation.
By Aidan Lane, Alliance News reporter
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